FA Cup preview: Chelsea v. Nottingham Forest
Former European Cup winners Nottingham Forest visit Stamford Bridge for a fourth round FA Cup tie, Chelsea’s second cup game in five days.
Tuesday’s League Cup semi-final second leg win over Wycombe Wanderers lifted players and fans alike.
News that John Terry is fit again after a prolonged spell on the sidelines will raise hopes of a resurgence still further.
Terry is unlikely to be risked today but is expected to start the Premiership game against Blackburn on Wednesday.
Jose Mourinho is still without Khalid Boulahrouz, Arjen Robben and Joe Cole.
Forest manager Colin Calderwood is sweating on captain Ian Breckin’s fitness but Sammy Clingan is back from a three-game suspension. Kris Commons is likely to miss out with a hamstring injury.
The last time Chelsea played Forest was in a fourth round FA Cup tie in 2000. Goals from Frank Leboeuf and Dennis Wise sealed a 2-0 victory. The Blues went on to lift the Cup in the last final played at Wembley.
With the new Wembley stadium set to be completed in time for this year’s final, the omens could be on Chelsea and Mourinho’s side.
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- Posted at 01:13 AM · Permalink · Print · 1474 views · Last indexed by Google on the 15th May 2008
- Tags: Arjen Robben, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Dennis Wise, FA Cup, Frank Leboeuf, History, Joe Cole, John Terry, Jose Mourinho, Khalid Boulahrouz, Nottingham Forest, Wycombe Wanderers
Wow, it seems Joey and Khalid have really serious injuries… Anyone knows for sure what kind of injuries they have and when they will be back in action?
I still very much believe in Khalid, I think he’s an excellent defender for the EPL. I just think he needs time, not the kind of time that Sheva needed, but just a little bit of time and support - and he’ll be massive for us. Mark my words.
Straight-forward victory really. I think we played very well but of course, there was no need to make too much effort.
Shevchenko looked the part, the team worked together, and we limited Forest to one chance. A few more goals could have been scored (I think a more fair reflection of the match would have been 4 or 5-1) but there’s nothing really to complain about.
It looks like the bad spell is over with JT and Boulahrouz slowly coming back, but only after the match against Blackburn on Wednesday will we have the definitive answer.
Let’s hope it’s similar to the one we got today.
3-0 for chelsea…they are rocking …. doesnt matter which division team it is… the thing is they are playing beautiful football n without their best players either not playing or out of their position…. so there are good signs…
I hope JT comes back against blackburn….
did u guys hear what gallas said.?.tht they are better than chelsea… i wonder what did he based this arguement on…. wanna add something on these guys??…
Well good game and good result. There will be some who say that it was only Not. Forest. However, bring them all ony by one it seems like we are back to the winning ways.
Gallas has to say something to justify his stupid move. He is trying to convince himself rather than anyone else. I think P.L. table tells the story.
Chelsea is falling apart :( According to the press, it’s almost certain that Mourinho will leave the club, which in turn will cause dissent among the players… This very much sucks, I tell you!
Especially now that we seem to be out of the cricis.
MikeL I could not agree with you any more. I can already hear them say that it was Nottingham Forest playing in a lower division and we should not read anything in this and so on…
Oh well we did win and what am appreciating about these matches is how players like Essien and Lassana Diarra have come out and played to own their positions.
Sheva to is not doing too badly..Drogs on 22 and still counting could make the 40 mark at this rate only 18 to go..Just needs two more hattricks…
Just loving it and Gleb…Do not always believe everything you read lest you fall in a trap like some of our dear beloveds…
We still have a lot of work to do on the right back..Geremi did not do it for me…actually Lassana played better in that role against wycombe…
Lampard’s game is idling and I am beginning to think we need a better ball player in his role…He is quality but I think Arteta of Everton plays better in that role than Lamps… My opinion… I played in the middle of the pack and the biggest attributte Lamps brings to our game is the running into scoring positions, shots from distance as well as the long balls - I think Arteta does this well but also combines it with short ball distribution which I think Lamps is not really good at…
I am thinking of erasing this but..it will stay…Do not get me wrong I love watching Lamps banging them but I think he gets lost too easily in the middle especially when the tension ups… I recall a one two Obi tried to involve him in and the ball just boobled away from his feet… Am I asking for too much to have the ball laced to his feet? Something close to Fabregas???
That is the area in his game he has to improve on…I think it is still lacking especially with the game plan we employ these days…
Wow, Forest were really, really awful. Was hoping for a bit more of a test to see what condition we’re in, but so it goes.
Gallas does a lot of talking. Didn’t realise what a tosser he was till he joined those sanctimonious wankers in Goonerville.
Gleb according to press and Mourinho personally, he is not going anywhere.
Mourinho denies
Jose M, love the comments but i think you are crackers mate! Lampard’s game is idling? The man is a Chelsea legend, you name a midfielder who over the past 3 seasons has scored more? If you would rather Arteta than Lamps than you are barking mad my friend! I’m not saying you are saying that, but you’re comparing him to completely different players like Fabregas and Arteta who are both qualitybut deep lying, ball playing love a trick or two CMs. That’s not frank! You tell me if you would rather Frank Lampard with 20+ goals a season or Fab/Arteta 5+goals a season a couple of assists and fairy stepovers? Too be honest i like most of us i’m sure would pick Lampard over any midfielder you could possibly name.
Not knocking you buddy, everyones entitled to their own opinions.
Oh one more thing. Two hatricks only makes 6…
Jose,
I think your totally right about Lamps. He is a qulaity mid-fielder (and a ledge Guido) but that doesn’t mean he fits in with our system. For me the mid-field solution is very simple and is what made us so good during Jose’s first season.
Two wingers (one on the bench); Lenon, J cole (when he’s fit), Albanglahor or another proven in Prem or hungry youth squad player. We should get rid of SWP.
Center mid; Essien - attcking and distributing, Diarra -holding, lamps on the bench, Maka on the bench.
Lamps is our highest ever scoring mid-fielder but this doesn’t tell the whole story…Image in Franky cut through the defense with a wonderful pass to the big drog or shevers, then our strikers would ascore more goals then him rather then vice versa.
You would usually hear ‘ he’s too gready in front of goal’ but i’ll say he’s too gready once he can lift his leg to shoot at goal. That’s why he scores alot for a mid fielder. I don’t know the exact figures but his average shots per game must exceed most strikers in the Prem let alone mid-fielders.
Just because a player has history doesn’ mean he should start and finish every game. Maybe a spell on the bench would make his more thoughtful of our Strikers.
KTBFFH.
No idea how well Chelsea played because Forest were disgracefully bad. Macclesfield at the bottom of Div 2 did better when they were beaten 6-1.
The only thing worth remarking on is when the subs were made and we had Woods (age16), Diarra (21), Mikel (19) and Morais (22), with Kalou (21) and even Essien (24) and Cech (24) on the pitch at the same time.
8 players with an average age of less than 21.
The general consensus is that lampard has improved immensely under JM - he scores more, is key in a lot of our goals, and has saved us on many, many occasions. It’s easy to criticise him because his reputation has grown so much. JM claims he would not swap lamps for anyone, even Ronaldinho; he has moulded lamps into precisely the player he wants. When JM airrved, 1st fing lamps sed was JM wants only intelignt playas, that’s wot lamps is, an apt futball studnt who works extra hard in training. He is key in jm’s ‘Transition Football’ phìlosophy where he must play very direct (means a lot of the time hitting long passes). As a result, he has become somewhat limited in his distribution. Most of the pleasing mixture of passing that was part of his game under ranieri has been replaced with direct passes that are meant to keep things simple, effective, and ‘accessable’.